By: Susan Moffat-Thomas, retired Executive Director Swiss Bear Downtown Development
On October 8th and 9th, New Bern celebrates its 42nd year as a family fall festival that attracts thousands of festival-goers to our beautiful downtown. Initially a one-day event featuring a small number of arts and crafts and food vendors on Middle Street, as well as local talent and antique car exhibits, MumFest has now evolved into a major event that takes in the downtown and adjacent parks.
Originally the Swiss Bear Festival, now known as MumFest, was one of the events created when New Bern became a NC Main Street City in 1980. The program was established in the late 1970’s by the National Main Street Center to assist small towns with their downtown revitalization program. New Bern was one of the first five towns selected to participate in North Carolina’s Main Street program and developing promotions and events was seen as a way to reestablish downtown as a compelling place and rekindle community excitement. And as the festival has grown, it continues to meet that goal.
Organizing and coordinating this annual event is a major challenge. During my career at Swiss Bear, in the early years, with a “shoe string” budget, we recruited volunteers to help put the event together as vendor spaces generated barely enough to cover expenses; event marketing was hand-made posters and word-of-mouth. The city’s role was minor: blocking off the streets, sweeping them at the end of the day, and hauling away the trash.
That changed in 1987, and the city’s partnership with Swiss Bear is credited to then city manager, Bill Hartman. When faced with a crisis two-days before the festival (volunteer manpower committed to putting up a barricade around the Hot Air Balloon venue on Bicentennial Park and did not show up), I burst into the manager’s office, unannounced, and said, “Bill, we need help.” He calmly responded, “of course we will help you, what do you need?” Words cannot express my sense of relief. The city’s support and manpower were in full force all week-end. On Monday, when I went to City Hall to thank him, he told me he realized the city’s assistance and manpower was needed so the city would partner Swiss Bear in producing future festivals.
The partnership allowed the festival to expand and by the early 1990’s, the growing attendance and expansion onto more downtown streets and Union Point, provided the opportunity to recruit sponsors and local media support and generate funds to expand the number of venues, hire professional talent and attractions, and professionally market the event. In the mid-1990’s, the major streetscape improvements provided the opportunity to install electrical outlets in the new streetlights and water spigots in each block—important improvements for vendors.
In the early 1990’s, in an effort to expand and market the festival as, “a family fall festival – something for everyone” and showcase our historic assets, Swiss Bear partnered with Tryon Palace who agreed to open their beautiful gardens, free to the public. That partnership led to a name change, and the Swiss Bear Festival officially became known as the Chrysanthemum Festival and would officially be held annually on the 2nd full week-end of October. It soon became apparent, the name Chrysanthemum Festival was confusing to people, as many thought the event was a flower show, and had problems pronouncing and spelling Chrysanthemum. To end the confusion, it became MumFest.
In the mid-90’s, crowd density was a serious concern. Fortunately, construction of the new Neuse River Bridge and removal of the old bridge, allowed expanding onto Broad and East Front Streets and controlled openings of the Cunningham Bridge. To alleviate parking issues, shuttles to/from the New Bern Mall and Lawson Creek Park were added to accommodate the growing attendance.
In 2003, Swiss Bear hired the International Festival & Events organization to conduct an economic impact study over festival weekend. The study indicated, the economic impact of MumFest was $3.5 million, visitors came from 27 states (primarily families), the family’s average income was $50,000 and above, and confirmed, “when you bring people to an area, they spend money, and when there’s an infusion of new money in a town it benefits everyone.”
In the early days, there were problematic issues that dealt with street closures, unhappy church-goers, merchants who resented vendors setting-up in front of their shops. The restaurants saw food vendors as a threat, and no matter how well planned, issues continued to spring up that had to be resolved prior to or during the event.
MumFest requires thousands of hours of organization and coordination which begins as soon as the festival ends. In spite of “the best laid plans,” organizers continue to face challenges they have no control over, i.e., weather, hurricanes, rain, and pandemics. Speaking of rain, New Bern’s enthusiasm for MumFest was totally driven home in 2005, on its 25th anniversary. Torrential downpours-soaked downtown streets and drenched the vendors, however, a sea of umbrellas and the yellow-raincoats of festival-goers still filled the streets, and rain or shine, they were going anyway.
MumFest is a quality annual family festival that continues to grow and attract thousands to our city, infuse millions into the economy, and showcase our historic assets and quality of life.
Kudos to Swiss Bear and the City of New Bern—an outstanding partnership that just keeps on giving.